Hey, I get to come back and review one of the best books on the shelf each and every month, hell of a way to celebrate Spidey’s fiftith in my opinion. In the following review of Jonathan Hickman’s Future Foundation, we will discover one of Peter’s greatest insecurities and get a look at the resolution of the Inhuman/Kree battle for supremacy.

FF #21: Ronance

Writer: Jonathan Hickman

Artist: Nick Dragotta

Colors: Cris Peter

Letters: Clayton Cowles

Cover: Mike Choi & Guru e-FX

Editors: Jake Thomas, Lauren Sankovitch, Tom Breevort

Who Would Demand Such A Thing? Who Would Ruin Love: Several weeks ago, the recently resurrected Kree Supremor foresaw his death at the hands of the Midnight King, Black Bolt, and in fear chased him across the galaxy until he cornered Black Bolt and his queen Medusa. However, before a battle could begin, the adult Franklin Richards intervened and spoke in solitude with Black Bolt and told him that killing the Supremor would only bring a darker future. Heeding Franklin’s advice, Black Bolt allows himself to be absorbed by the Supremor so he may make peace with him rather than let everything die.

In the present, Reed and Sue Richards are summoned to provide aid in this peace treaty and are accompanied by Peter and Johnny. Peter and Johnny split away from Reed and Sue to talk to The Light Brigade, and Reed and Sue learn the cost of the treaty- The Marriage between Ronan The Accuser, Supremor’s finest warrior, and Crystal, sister of Queen Medusa, must be broken and Ronan returned to the Kree Empire.  Reed and Sue are asked to speak to Ronan and Crystal so that they will sacrifice their marriage for the greater good. Reed tells Ronan he is unable to help him in this time because he could never do such a thing in his place, while Sue informs Crystal that her duty to her people eclipses her love. In the end, Crystal banishes Ronan from the Inhuman city Attilian and Ronan is dragged screaming back to the Kree Empire- Black Bolt watches over the events with a heavy heart.

That Undefined, Perfect And Fragile Thing. The Only Mystery Left In The Universe: It’s really not a good time to have a marriage in the Marvel Universe is it? Things are on the rocks for Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, Black Panther is laying the smack down on his wife Storm before divorcing her, and now Crystal is forced to banish her husband from the Inhuman Society.

This issue and the last are amongst some of Jonathan Hickman’s best in his Fantastic Four run, which is weird since he’s been dismantling his run over the last couple runs. The emotions run high and yet he still manages to fit in some of the best humor you’ll find on the shelves these days- the man makes a butt joke funny, that’s talent. When I first started reading his Fantastic Four stuff, anytime the Inhumans showed up, I was not overly enthused. Over the course of his run, he’s not only made me reconsider how I feel about those issues, but he’s made me fall in love with these characters. Rather than have another massive event to conclude the Kree/Inhuman war, he draws you in for a close personal story of tragedy, sacrifice, and cost.

On the art side of things, I’ve become accustomed to Dragotta’s art, but I still wish Hickman had a better artist to finish out his run with, like Stegman over on Fantastic Four. There’s a bleak color palette to this issue that really works with the script’s tone, and there are some beautiful and heart-breaking imagery to be found in this script.

Who Would Dare? A King Would Dare: I think it’s a testament to Hickman’s skills that he can reset practically everything he’s done over the last three years and it’s still fascinating to read. How many writers get a chance to do that? How many writers could bring themselves to do something like that? And even as he slowly presses down on that reset button, he still manages to find ways to weave in things he will work with in the future- like his Black Panther story.

5/5

Checking in on Peter:

We’ve actually got two scenes to discuss because Peter showed up in Fantastic Four #609 as well, to fight the Bruce Banner from… let’s just go with the future to avoid writing up a long story. In Fantastic #609, Peter ends up getting thrown a mile by Future Hulk and is then there to witness the Nu-World Defenders attempt to return home in the God-Ship Galactus- Once again, another long story.

In FF #21, Peter (as Spider-Man) encounters the female member of the Light Brigade he made out with in FF#17, as Peter Parker. She claims to recognize his scent while Peter tries to deny knowing her and when she mentions his big round butt, Peter flips and shouts he doesn’t have a big butt in the middle of the throne room of Attilian.